1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a manufacturing method of a composite material and, more particularly, to a manufacturing method of a composite material including a stainless material and a fiber material.
2. Description of the Related Art
A casing of an electronic device, such as a mobile phone, a computer, a play station and a personal digital assistant (PDA), is usually made of metal (such as a stainless steel, an aluminum alloy and a magnesium alloy) to meet a requirement of high rigidity, and it would not be easily damaged due to an external impact. Recently, portable electronic devices become lighter and thinner, which should be considered in choosing the material of the casing.
In manufacture, a metal casing is usually shaped by punching or cold forging. In order to make the structure have high rigidity and high strength, following materials and methods are used: when the aluminum alloy is used, an aluminum alloy plate with sufficient thickness is punched for shaping, and then it is attached to other structures by gluing, or the casing is shaped via the cold forging to form an inner structure and an outer structure at the same time, and then the casing is processed via a computer numerical control (CNC). However, the aluminum alloy is relatively light, and thus its thickness should be increased to meet the requirement of strength, which makes it difficult to make the casing thinner.
When a stainless steel material is used, since the stainless steel has good rigidity, a thin stainless steel plate is shaped by punching, and then it is attached to other structures via gluing. Though the casing made of the stainless steel material is thin, it is heavy due to a high density.
Comparing to the metal, a fiber material (such as carbon fibers, glass fibers or metal fibers) is also used to make the electronic device casing. The fiber material is light, has high rigidity and high strength, and it can form decoration textures after weaving. Though the casing made of the fiber material is light and thin, it is difficult to shape it in the subsequent process or combine it with other structures. Thus, the conventional manufacturing method costs much, the quality of the casing cannot be improved, and it is difficult to meet the requirements of rigidity, light, thin and beauty at the limited cost.